Bewitched and Bedeviled: A Cognitive Approach to Embodiment in Early English Possession (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)

Narratives Of Possession Have Survived In Early English Medical And Philosophical Treatises. Using Ideas Derived From Cognitive Science, This Study Moves Through The Stages Of Possession And Exorcism To Describe How The Social, Religious, And Medical Were Internalized To Create The Varied Manifestations Of Demon Possession In Early Modern England. Introduction : Grounding Rage Possession -- Early Diagnostics -- Contemporary Theories -- Embodied Spirituality/embodied Cognition -- Performance/contamination -- Reconciliation/dispossession/exorcism -- Conclusion : Reproducing And Representing Demoniacs. By Kirsten C. Uszkalo. Bewitched and Bedeviled offers a bold theoretical perspective on the body possessed. Narratives of early English demoniacs have survived in medical and philosophical treatises, salacious and cheap ephemera, and formulaic and culturally constructed depositions. Demon possessions have been read as power struggles and performances and contextualized culturally and historically, as a part of the legal system, village economics, and developing science. Using ideas derived from cognitive science, Kirsten C. Uszkalo constructs a framework which moves through the stages of possession and exorcism to describe how the social, religious, and medical were internalized to create the vivid and vexed cognitive, physical, and cultural manifestations of demon possession in early modern England.--Publisher description Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction: Grounding Rage Possession....Pages 1-17 Early Diagnostics....Pages 19-45 Contemporary Theories....Pages 47-57 Embodied Spirituality | Embodied Cognition....Pages 59-83 Performance | Contamination....Pages 85-132 Reconciliation | Dispossession | Exorcism....Pages 133-168 Conclusion: Reproducing and Representing Demoniacs....Pages 169-175 Back Matter....Pages 177-263 Introduction : Grounding Rage Possession -- Early Diagnostics -- Contemporary Theories -- Embodied Spirituality/embodied Cognition -- Performance/contamination -- Reconciliation/dispossession/exorcism -- Conclusion : Reproducing And Representing Demoniacs. Kirsten C. Uszkalo. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.